THE WRITING IS ON THE WALL: Bergamo, Brand, Gori, Jacobson elected to the Lancers Wall of Fame

The Rochester Lancers’ Wall of Fame class will include three former players from the original team that played in the American Soccer League and North American Soccer League and a former writer who covered the club for several years.

Midfielder-forward Nelson Bergamo, defender Adolfo Gori and goalkeeper Jack Brand were elected, it was announced on the Soccer is a Kick in the Grass radio show Monday night.

Gary Jacobson, who covered the Lancers for three seasons for the now-defunct Rochester Times-Union, also was elected.

The Brazilian-born Bergamo led the Lancers in scoring during that inaugural 1967 in the American Soccer League and played with the team through the 1970 NASL season.

Gori was a member of the 1971 team that registered the best regular-season mark in Lancers history before coaching the team at the 1972 Concacaf Champions Cup in Guatemala.

Brand played for the Lancers for one season, but made a big impact on the team’s 1977 to the NASL semifinals. He excelled in the shootout. He also performed for the Toronto Metros, Cosmos, as the winning goalkeeper in the 1978 Soccer Bowl, Seattle Sounders, Tulsa Roughnecks and Tampa Bay Rowdies. In fact, Brand was named North American player of the year during a stellar 1980 campaign in Seattle with a goals-against average under one and 15 shutouts. Brand also guarded the net for Canada at the 1976 Montreal Olympics as the hosts lost to the Soviet Union and North Korea.

The quartet will be inducted into the team’s Wall of Fame at the Lancers’ home match against Syracuse SC in a National Premier Soccer League match at Charles A. Schiano at Aquinas Stadium in Rochester, N.Y. Sunday, June 23 at 5 p.m.

The Lancers will kick off their season, hosting FC Buffalo at Aquinas Sunday, May 19 at 5 p.m.

About The Author

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered eight World Cups, seven Olympics and all 21 MLS Cups. He writes about New York City FC, New York Cosmos and the U.S. national team for Newsday and pens a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has two more in the works, including one about the Rochester Lancers.